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What MMORPG are you playing, and why?

I'm back for my annual month on FFXIV, but I honestly admit I'm growing a bit tired of the gameplay loop, the "omg you're the main hero !!" story and the sometimes very weird community. I love the world setting though, so I usually stick around anyway.

I would love to give GW2 more chances, but I'm not totally vibing with the combat system; plus, I wish art direction went a little differently, the game is not exactly holding up well these days (but I admit that square-enix is quite a high standard in that regard: even FFXI still looks artistically coherent, two decades and a half later).

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  • I usually jump between Guild Wars 2 and the Elder Scrolls Online myself. But Warframe has been on the side of them as well since forever, but its more of MMO lite.

    GW2 is very nice when it comes to combat and such, even if the large world events aren't really my cup of tea as the FX gets pretty bad. The story is decent enough and there is no subscription option at all. You do however need to buy the expansions and the living world story to get the entire game, i think there is a "complete pack" on steam. But its free to play the base game even though free accounts are very limited and should be seen more as an endless trial.

    ESO has a far better world and deeper lore than GW2 does but i find its combat to be especially awful. A subscription is practically mandatory if you want to do crafting as there are a /lot/ of crafting materials and not a lot of inventory space. With the subscription you get access to the crafting bag which is just unlimited storage for crafting materials. The subscription also gives you access to all the episodes and expansions apart from the latest one. The story is often good, but nothing too exceptional.

    Warframe is completely different as its a third person shooter. Its got some of the best movement in the business imo. Its entirely free to play as well with ways to earns everything in game, including the premium currency as its tradable between players. Its got some of the wildest lore of any game ive played and as such is quite unique in its take on sci fi. The story is great, but relatively short. If you do give this one a shot and hate the gameplay its not going to be for you as there is a lot of grind. But if you want to play a space ninja/walking WMD bouncing off of the walls while murdering hordes of enemies its definitely worth a try.

  • Guild Wars 2 mostly for me.

    I played WoW a lot until the expansion after WotLK.

  • Trying to hold onto my desire to play FFXIV since I have a personal large house and years invested

    But honestly the recent expansion having the worst story we've seen in a final fantasy ANYTHING alongside multiple staff members pretending Wuk Lamat's voice acting was acceptable (and the large portion of the player base that will call you a transphobe for that opinion) has me seriously considering if this is the end of the line for me

    Tried picking up GW2 but tank controls disgust me

    • What about gw2 “tank” controls disgust you?

      There arguably isn’t even the concept of a tank in gw2.

    • I haven't played Dawntrail yet, but I have to admit that I felt something was troubling the game even in earlier expansions: as I finished both ShB and EW I couldn't help but be left with a state of "oh, tome grinding... again... in the same exact way as all the other expansions". No one seemed to care, however, so I thought it was my problem. And it's a big shame, because I expected differently from Dawntrail: from what I heard, it feels more like the character going on a vacation than anything, with really just the same gameplay loop.

      Another thing I was expecting from Dawntrail, apart from big gameplay changes, is to redefine the story more significantly: FFXIV up to Endwalker was a great story, but sometimes I couldn't help it but feel like I didn't want to be so central to everything: it's great when MMOs make you feel like "a hero from the sidelines" because there's less immersion breaking (and FFXI did this succesfully, if I recall). I think writers really dug themselves in too deep of a hole:

      From what I hear - reason I haven't played it yet - is that Dawntrail is fram from such expectations. I agree that once you try FFXIV's legacy controls you can't go back. Same thing goes for gamepad optimization.

  • I started playing GW2 at the end of 2023 an been having a blast with it! I played WoW for a decade until the combo of Shadowlands and the Acti-Blizz allegations soured me on that company forever. I tried FFXIV with everyone going over to that game and the story was good but the button bloat pushed me away from really getting into it. I then had that MMO itch at the end of 2023 again and decided to try GW2 and it's been great. Fun story, good gameplay and most importantly no subscription. It's so nice to be able to play with breaks and come back whenever you want to with no need to open up your wallet every time, just buy the expansions and Living Worlds once and you are done!

  • Palia, which is the closest I can get to a cozy, friendly MMORPG with a decent community. The lack of enemies doesn't bother me, and I like feeling that I don't need to grind for gear or status. That being said, the game desperately needs more content. I'm on hiatus at the moment.

    As far as the others go, Everquest and World of Warcraft were/are still my favorites but I haven't played them in years. MMORPGs are a dying breed, and today most if not all of them bring very little to the table. They don't make 'em like they used to, that's for sure.

    These days, I prefer single player RPGs where choices matter, or games that have base-building elements and open world survival. I really don't care for playing with other murder hobos anymore.

  • I don't usually like MMORPGs because I haven't yet found one that hasn't been spoiled with microtransactions and a toxic playerbase, so I just play Outside. I'm much more a fan of singleplayer, or multiplayer with friends games like Terraria, Stardew Valley, or Minecraft.

  • Not really into MMORPGs, but I've been trying The Finals and it's pretty cool. Like the destruction of Battlefield mixed with the movement of Apex Legends and maybe a light touch of Rainbow Six: Siege or COD. Definitely worth the $0.

  • I've recently gotten into New World: Aeternum. I'm on console so my MMORPG options are limited but I'm really enjoying it. There's dungeons, raids, world bosses, collecting, crafting and more.

  • Re-subbed to WoW for a month, for the huge 20th Anniversary Event. Since I've played so much earlier in the year (another event and expansion launch), I'm not interested in continuing after the sub runs out. There are a few more achievements I'll finish, but otherwise I'm kinda done.

    FF14 is the only other MMO I've played, have like 650 hours on Steam, and I think I'm in the middle of the Stormblood campaign. It's been a while since I played it, but some day I'll make it to Endwalker.

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